The Journey Continues -- But is it Sublime to Ridiculous or Blue to Red?

...I'm in a quandary about the most appropriate headliner for this note. Is it aptly described as a journey from the sublime to the ridiculous? Or is it really a "trip" from a Blue (Democrat) state to a Red (Republican) state??? I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

For starters, when I talked earlier about the many different kinds of journeys, did I mention strange?? Well, for about 5 days last week, I found myself deeply involved in the beautiful, centuries old Byzantine rituals of death and burial in the Greek Orthodox Church (with all the attendant smells and bells). Then, the next thing I knew, I found myself on a bus headed to Las Vegas to celebrate Thanksgiving with some wonderful river rafting buddies -- Karin and Richard (and their three cats). Being of the Rush Limbaugh persuasion (yes, I do have friends of all persuasions), I don't think they even realized that Las Vegas had a bus station. But, as wilderness explorers, they persevered and found their liberal leaning friend among the unwashed masses not far from Las Vegas' "needle alley."

After a blitz down the "strip" to see all the historical sites, we began eating our way through Las Vegas -- starting at one of the famous Las Vegas dinner buffets where I, of course, focused on consuming as many chocolate desserts as I could hold. But let's just skip right to Thanksgiving Day, because that's the "real story." It started quite normally -- hot coffee on a beautiful day in the Mojave Desert. Then came breakfast: another mother-lode of food at a local CASINO, followed by a little after breakfast gambling (no I didn't win, but I didn't lose either!). Then, at the appointed hour, we hopped in the car (a Mercedes, of course) and headed for the "turkey drive through pick-up line" at a posh local hotel. We pulled into the lanes marked with red velvet ropes, where the elegant valet staff carried our meal (carefully prepared under the watchful eye of Chef Sherlock) to our waiting vehicle. We then drove back across the desert with our traditional turkey dinner resting comfortably in the back, with an equally traditional rendition of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland' playing softly on the radio. Truly an unforgettable Thanksgiving Day!

Hence my struggle with today's headliner. On the bus to Las Vegas, I was thinking sublime to ridiculous. But, on my way back to Los Angeles I began to wonder whether this is the way it really is in those Red States. Obviously, I'll have to do more investigation (although I don't see a month-long swing through the red states at the top of my list of travel priorities!).

Tomorrow is game day: Go Trojans. Beat the Irish!!

Take care,

Betsy

PS: I forgot to mention the bus trip from LA to LV and back. All I can say is that it's a vintage American experience -- every ethnic group on the planet was represented (Irish, Armenian, Nicaraguan, Mexican, New Zealand, etc), including a peasant Greek lady complete with her apron, black stockings, and cardboard boxes for luggage. The mood was loud and convivial on the out-bound trip, but very subdued on the return (probably a busload of losers). The trip includes one stop each way in beautiful Barstow, where you get 30 minutes to eat, pee and shop at the very large collection of stalls selling the most remarkable chat-sky (sp???). One note to my family: I did all my Christmas shopping at the Barstow bus stop -- I warned you things would be different when I retired!